Important Battles in Indian History / World:

Battles in Indian History Details

Battle of Hydaspeas - 326 B.C. Alexander defeated Porus.
Kalinga War - 261 B.C. Ashoka defeated Kalinga.
First Battle of Tarain - 1191 A.D. Prithvi Raj Chauhan defeated Mohammed Ghori.
Second Battle of Tarain - 1192 A.D. Mohammad Ghori defeated Prithvi Raj Chauhan.
Battle of Chandawar - 1193 or 1194 Muhammad Ghori defeated Jaichandra Gaharwar.
First Battle of Panipat - 1526 A.D. Babar defeated Ibrahim Lodi.
Battle of Khanwa - 1527 A.D. Babar defeated Rana Sanga.
Babar defeated Mahmud Lodhi and Sultan Nusrat
Battle of Ghaghra - 1529 A.D.
Shah.
Battle of Chausa - 1539 A.D. Sher Shah Suri (Sher Khan) defeated Humayun.
Battle of Kannauj (or Bilgram) - 1540
Sher Shah Suri (Sher Khan) defeated Humayun.
A.D.
Bairam Khan (representing Mughal Emperor Akbar)
Second Battle of Panipat - 1556 A.D.
defeated Hemu.
Ahmednagar, Bijapur, Golkonda and Bidar formed
Battle of Talikota - 1565 A.D.
alliance and defeated the Vijaynagar empire.
Akbar's forces headed by Raja Man Singh and Asaf
Battle of Haldighati - 1576 A.D. Khan defeated Rana Pratap. Rana Pratap refused to
surrender to the Mughal Power.
Battle of Karnal - 1739 A.D. Nadir Shah defeated Mohd. Shah.
Battle of Plassey - 1757 A.D. Lord Clive defeated Siraj-ud-Daula.
Battle of Wandiwash - 1760 A.D. The English forces defeated the French forces.
Third Battle of Panipat - 1761 A.D. Ahmed Shah Abdali defeated the Marathas.
The English forces defeated the alliance of Nawab Mir
Battle of Buxar - 1764 A.D. Qasim of Bengal, Nawab Shuja-ud-daula of Awadh
and Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II.
First Anglo Mysore War - (1767-69 A.D.) Hyder Ali defeated the English forces.
Hyder Ali died in the battle (1782) and subsequently
Second Anglo Mysore War - (1780-84
led by his son Tipu Sultan. The war concluded with the
A.D.)
Treaty of Mangalore (1784).
The English forces defeated Tipu Sultan. Treaty of
Third Anglo Mysore War - (1789-92 A.D.)
Srirangapatnam was signed.
Tipu Sultan was defeated and killed by the English
Fourth Anglo Mysore War - 1799 A.D.
forces.

Dynasties of India:

Dynasty (Region) - Founder Period

Haryanka Dynasty (Magadha) - Bimbisara 684 BC – 413 BC
Nanda Dynasty (Magadha) - Mahapadmananda 345 BC – 321 BC
Mauryan Dynasty (Magadha) - Chandragupta Maurya 322 BC – 185 BC
Sunga Dynasty (Magadha) - Pushyamitra Sunga 185 BC – 75 BC
Kanva Dynasty (Magadha) - Vasudeva 75 BC - 30 BC
Satvahana Dynasty (Maharashtra) - Simuka 230 BC – 220 CE
Kushan Dynasty (West-Northern India) - Kadphises 50 AD - 250 AD
Chola Dynasty, Adi (Cholamandalama) - Karikala 190 AD - 600 AD
Gupta Dynasty (Magadha) - Srigupta 320 AD - 600 AD
Chalukya Badami Dynasty (Badami) - Pulkeshin I 543 AD – 753 AD
Pallava Dynasty (Kanchi)- Singha Vishnu 550 AD - 897 AD
Chalukya Vengi Dynasty (Vengi) - Vishnu Vardhana 615 AD - 1118 AD
Rashtrakuta Dynasty (Maharashtra)- Danti Durga 753 AD – 982 AD
Pala Dynasty (Bengal) - Gopala 750 AD – 1174 AD
Chola Dynasty (Tamil Region) - Vijayalaya 850 AD - 1279 AD
Slave Dynasty (Northern India)- Qutubudin Aibak 1206 AD – 1290 AD
Khilji Dynasty (Northern India)- Jalal-ud-din Khilji 1290 AD – 1320 AD
Tughlaq Dynasty (Northern India) - Ghias-ud-din Tughlaq 1320 AD – 1414 AD
Lodhi Dynasty (Northern India) - Bahlol Lodhi 1451 AD – 1526 AD
Mughal Dynasty (large part of Indian Subcontinent)- Babur 1526 AD – 1857 AD

Accounts of important Foreign Travellers in Ancient India:

Name of the
Details
Traveller
Abdur Razzaq 1. He was a Persian traveller.
2. He was the ambassador of Shah Rukh (the Timurid dynasty ruler of
Persia) to Calicut, India.
3. His book entitled 'Matla-us-Sadain wa Majma-ul-Bahrain' described the
life and events in Calicut under the Zamorin and also of the Ancient City of
Vijayanagara at Hampi.
Al-beruni 1. He was a Persian scholar.
2. He came to India along with Mahmud of Ghazni.
3. He wrote the book 'Tahqiq-i-Hind'.
Francois Bernier 1. He was a French physician and traveller.
2. He was the personal physician of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb for
around 12 years during his stay in India.
3. He wrote 'Travels in the Mughal Empire', which is mainly about the reigns
of Dara Shikoh and Aurangzeb.
Fa-Hien 1. He was a Chinese Buddhist Monk.
2. He came during the reign of Chandragupta II (Vikramaditya).
3. He visited Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha to collect Buddhist texts and
relics.
Hiuen-Tsang 1. He was a Chinese Traveller.
2. He came during the reign of Harsha Vardhana.
 3. He wrote the book 'Si Yu Ki'- Buddhist Records of the Western World,
which was later translated by Samuel Beal.
Ibn Batuta 1. He was a traveller from Morocco.
2. He visited India during the reign of Mohammed Bin Tughlaq.
3. He wrote his travelogue 'Rihla' throwing light on geographical, economic
and social conditions of that time.
Marco Polo 1. He was a European traveller.
2. He visited South India in 1294 A.D.
3. He wrote the book 'The Book of Sir Marco Polo' which gives an account
of the economic history of India.
Megasthenes 1. He was an ambassador of Selecus Nikator, who visited the court of
Chandragupta Maurya.
2. He wrote the book 'Indica' which contains detail account of Chandragupta
Maurya’s reign.
Nicolo Conti 1. He was a traveller from Italy.
2. He visited India during the reign of Deva Raya I of Vijaynagar Kingdom.
3. His work gives a comprehensive account of the Hindu kingdom of
Vijaynagar.
Sir Thomas Roe 1. He was an ambassador of James I, King of England, at the court of
Mughal Emperor Jahangir (1615).
2. His work 'Journal of the mission to the Mogul Empire' is a valuable
contribution to the history of India in the early 17th century.
William Hawkins He was an ambassador of James I, King of England, at the court of Mughal
Emperor Jahangir (1609).

List of Famous Social Reformers of India / World:

Social
Important Contributions
Reformer
Founder of Brahmo Samaj

Raja Ram Mohan Roy was an Indian religious, social, and educational reformer,
Raja Ram and humanitarian. He challenged the traditional Hindu culture in the early 1800's.
Mohan Roy He founded the Brahmo Samaj and campaign against 'Sati', the Hindu funeral
practice in which the widow immolated herself on her husband's funeral pyre.
He was known as "Father of Modern India" and also regarded as the "Father of the
Bengal Renaissance".
Founder of Arya Samaj
Swami Swami Dayanand Saraswati was an important Hindu spiritual leader and social
Dayanand reformer of the 19th century. He was the founder of the Arya Samaj, a Hindu
Saraswati reform movement of the Vedic tradition. He published a number of religious books
such as Satyartha Prakash, Bhasya-Bhoomika and Sanskar Vidhi.
Swami Founder of Rama Krishna Mission
Vivekanand
His real name was Narendranath Datta. He was the disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. He
was a key figure in the introduction of the Indian philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga
 to the Western world. Swami Vivekananda founded the Ramakrishna Math and the
Ramakrishna Mission.
Founder of Young Bengal Movement
Henry Louis He was an Indian poet and assistant headmaster of Hindu College, Kolkata. He was
Vivian Derozio one of the first Indian educators to disseminate Western learning and science
among the young men of Bengal.
Started monthly magazine Lokhitwadi
Gopal Hari He was a social reformer from Maharashtra, India. He promoted emancipation and
Deshmukh education of women, and wrote against child marriages, dowry system and
polygamy.
Founder of Servants of India Society

Gopal Krishna He was one of the founding social and political leaders during the Indian
Gokhale Independence Movement against the British Empire in India. He was a senior
leader of the Indian National Congress. He not only promoted primarily
independence from the British Empire but also social reforms.
Founder of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, an educational trust, in 1938

K M Munshi He was an Indian independence movement activist, politician, writer from Gujarat.
He was a lawyer by profession but later he turned to literature and politics. He
served as the Governor of Uttar Pradesh from 1952 to 1957.
Founder of Sarvodya Movement, Bhoodan Movement
Acharya
Vinobha Bhave He was a supporter of non-violence and human rights. He was awarded Ramon
Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership in 1958.
Started Chipko Movement

Sunderlal He was a follower of Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy of Non-violence and

Bahugana Satyagraha and a social reformer. He starter Chipko movement for the preservation
of forests in the Himalayas. He was awarded India's second highest civilian honour,
Padma Vibhushan, in 2009.
Founder of Servants of God or Khudai Khidmatgar
Khan Abdul He was a political, spiritual and social leader known for his non-violent opposition
Gaffar Khan to the British Rule. He was also known as Frontier Gandhi. In 1987, he became the
first non-Indian to be awarded Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award.
Founder of Gyan Prasarak Mandali

He was an Indian political and social leader. He was also known as the Grand Old
Dadabhai Man of India. He was a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons, United
Naoroji Kingdom between 1892 and 1895, and the first Asian to be a British MP. His book
'Poverty and Un-British Rule in India' brought attention to the draining of India's
wealth into Britain.
Madam H P Founder of Theosophical Society
Blavatsky
 She was an Ukrainian occultist. In 1875, Blavatsky, Henry Steel Olcott, and
William Quan Judge established a research and publishing institute called the
Theosophical Society.
Founder of Missionaries of Charity

Mother Teresa She was a Roman Catholic Religious Sister, social reformer and missionary of
Albanian origin who lived for most of her life in India serving the poorest of the
poor. For her social service she was awarded Nobel Peace Prize in the year 1979.
Founder of Home Rule Movements

The All India Home Rule League was a national political organization founded in
Bal Gangadhar 1916 to lead the national demand for self-government, termed Home Rule, and to
Tilak and Annie obtain the status of a Dominion within the British Empire as enjoyed by Australia,
Besant Canada, South Africa, New Zealand and Newfoundland at that time. In 1916, Annie
Besant launched the All India Home Rule League along with Lokmanya Bal
Gangadhar Tilak.
Started Narmada Bachao Movement

She is an Indian social activist and social reformer turned politician. She is the
Medha Patkar founder member of Narmada Bachao Andolan and was National Convener of
National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM), an alliance of progressive
people's organisations.
Founder of Prarthana Samaj
Atmaram Prarthana Samaj critically examined the relations between contemporary social and
Pandurang cultural systems and religious beliefs and gave priority to social reform as
compared with the political changes already initiated by the British government.
Founder of Satya Sodhak Samaj

He was an Indian activist, thinker, social reformer, writer and theologist from
Jyotiba Phule Maharashtra. He founded the Satya Shodhak Samaj with the main objective of
liberating the Bahujans, Shudras and Ati-Shudras and protecting them from
exploitation and atrocities.
Started Aligarh Movement
Sir Syed Ahmed Sir Syed Ahmed Khan was an Anglo-Indian, Muslim philosopher, pragmatist and
Khan social activist of 19th century India. He founded the famous Aligarh Muslim
University (AMU) in 1875.
Founder of Red Cross
J H Dunant In 1901, Dunant was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in founding the
International Red Cross Movement and initiating the Geneva Convention.
Founder of Scouts
Robert Baden
Powell He was a lieutenant-general in the British Army. He was a writer and founder of the
Scout Movement.
Lady Agnes Founder of Guides
Baden Powell
 She was the wife of Robert Baden Powell. She became Chief Guide for Britain in
1918 and was elected World Chief Guide in 1930.
Founder of Amnesty International
Peter Benenson He was a British lawyer and the founder of human rights group Amnesty
International.
Founder of Lions Club

Melvin Jones He was a Chicago businessman. He founded the Lions Clubs International in the
year 1917 to take an active interest in the civic, cultural, social and moral welfare of
the community.
Founder of Nobel Prize

He was a Swedish chemist, engineer and innovator. He was the inventor of

dynamite. His fortune was used posthumously to institute the Nobel Prizes and was
Alfred Nobel awarded every year to persons making significant achievement in different fields
such as Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature and Peace. The
Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo (Norway), while the other prizes are awarded in
Stockholm (Sweden).